CODBLOG10: – Gwalch’s Back End

The old transom was shot so a suitable slab of new wood was purchased from our friendly woodyard in Trefnant. Using the old transom as a template Rod cut a new one to shape on the bandsaw. I think he’s getting quite adept at bandsawing as it turned out to be a very good fit. The practice will be useful as we have a lot more parts to cut out!

The edges had to be chamfered and this was done with an electric planer and then the new transom was offered up to the boat. It was looking pretty good and only a little more planing was needed before we could clamp it to position.

The ends of the planks were in a bad condition where the nails had been and they have had to be rebuilt using fibreglass. There are 3 planks on the port side that will have to have new ends scarfed on and both top planks and rubbing strips will be renewed. All this work will be done after the transom is fitted.

The original “Knee”, the L-shaped piece that supports the bottom of the transom to the keel was found to be useable after a little TLC and this was bolted temporarily to position. It will be secured with silicon-bronze coach-bolts eventually but for now we are using bog standard steel ones to hold it in position so we can mount the transom.

Eventually, after a few dry runs we fitted the transom using Sikaflex sealant on the joint and clamped it in position. We then secured the planks to it using copper nails. A little bit of sanding and the job’s done. Result!